The Pack: Accidentally in Love
by Debster's Dictionary
Summary: picking up right where The Pack: Mating left off, Xander and Kyle have to deal with the day to day realities of their mating and are forced to decide if they will stay together, or if it really was just a fluke. xander/kyle slash
1. It's so incredibly hard to love you

[AN: Sorry it took so long to get up the first bit of the sequel. Blame the real life.]

The Pack: Accidentally in Love

Chapter One

Xander had a headache.

He was also lying naked on the floor of the Hyena house at the Sunnydale zoo, surrounded by his classmates in a way that perfectly replicated his worst nightmares. And Giles was there. All that considered, a pounding skull was really the least of his problems.

Xander slithered slowly over to the edge of the stupid magic circle, covering himself and decidedly not thinking about the past few hours. All he could possibly care about at the moment was finding a pair of pants. He looked up, and was dismayed to see all eyes on him, or more accurately, the large bite-hickey on his neck.

Not thinking about it not thinking about it.

"Uh, Giles?" he said, as he stood up, being careful to keep his crotch covered.

"Yes, Xander?" Giles was polishing his glasses. What right did Giles have to be polishing his glasses? Xander was the one who had just had the big gay sex!

Not thinking about it.

"Can I have some clothes?" he whimpered instead, desperate to get away from all of those hungry and angry eyes. He was particularly eager to hide from the speculative look in Willow's eyes. That was just wrong. And creepy. And wrong.

Giles wordlessly handed over his suit jacket. Xander put it on with a shudder, idly noting that tweed, while an impeccable fashion statement, felt horrible next to his skin. His bitten and bruised skin. He was never having sex again.

The rest of the Pack, and Xander wished desperately that he knew a better term for them, were silent, just lying on the ground, watching the scene unfold. Kyle's eyes were hard, and Xander felt a surge of _Mate! Protect! _He squashed it. Kyle was a bully, a big old meanie, as Willow would say.

Oh god. Willow. He had hit his Willow. He was going to hell. No, he wasn't just going to hell, he was going to the ninth circle, the one for the betrayers, because she was his Willow, and he had hit her! Xander ignored that little place in side of him that insisted that she had deserved it for trying to capture his Mate. Kyle wasn't his Mate, it was just a fluke, and he was going to burn for eternity. He couldn't even look at her. She had to hate him now. He hated himself now.

Xander looked up at Giles and sighed. "Take me home?" There was just too much to deal with here. He needed his room and his blissfully neglectful parents to sort this all out.

"Right, yes," said Giles. "Girls?"

Buffy and Willow shuffled toward the exit. Xander followed, shoving down all the parts of him that sobbed over leaving Kyle behind. He was not gay. He could look at Buffy's ass and still be aroused. Sort of. Maybe he was just tired. This was a fluke, nothing more.

Not thinking about it.

*

Kyle also had a headache, but he had bigger problems. He was naked, in a room with the school librarian, and all he wanted was his Mate. That was the biggest problem. He had a Mate. And, to top it all off, it was Xander freaking Harris, bane of his spank bank.

Ordinarily, Kyle would be ecstatic over finally having had sex with the most consistent member of his fantasies since eighth grade, but right now, it felt a lot less than awesome.

The librarian was still polishing his glasses, even though Xander and the girls had already left. Kyle made no attempt to cover himself as he rolled over and looked at the man.

He cleared his throat and put the glasses back on. "I think you all ought to go home," he said. "It's getting light out." Kyle snorted to himself. No shit Sherlock. Still, he refrained form saying anything out loud. He was too tired to risk insulting a teacher.

Kyle just stared at Giles and willed him to go away. He did. They all listened as the sound of his footfalls died away. Kyle turned to the others to gauge their situation now.

"Fuck," said Rhonda. It seemed an appropriate sentiment.

"We should go," said Kyle. Sure, he wasn't Alpha, but, then, they didn't have an Alpha anymore, which was something he did not want to examine his feelings about. He did not miss Xander's leadership, and he did not want to take up the mantle. It was a reasonable suggestion, that was all.

They picked themselves up and slouched toward the door. Kyle was resolutely not thinking about the twinge in his ass, just like he was not thinking about the fact that for some reason, his Xander-detector was still on, and was pointing east.

Kyle pretended he didn't care.

*

"So, Xander, are you sure you're okay?"

He sighed. He loved his girls, and honestly it felt like it had been years since the zebras and the fishes. He was glad that Buffy cared enough about him to ask, but, really, all he wanted to was to be alone.

Giles wasn't saying anything. Xander knew that later on, he would be freaking out about the Giles-silence and what it could possibly mean, especially since Giles had a severe "I know something rather bad but I'm not sure how to bring it up" face, and, honestly, he really didn't want to know.

He wondered what Kyle was doing now. Xander knew that Kyle was angry, confused, and probably very annoyed. But none of that answered the most important question right now: did Kyle still want him?

"Are you sure you want to go straight home?" Willow was asking. "My parents are away again, so you could totally stay with me for a while."

Sweet Willow. Clearly she had already forgiven him for the whole knocking her out thing. She knew just enough about his family to want to protect him from it. Someday he just might tell her all of it, but since Jesse, he just hadn't felt that urge so much.

The car stopped outside his house. Xander stared out at the disintegrating paint and the broken porch rail. He forced himself to answer Willow.

"No," he said, unfolding himself from Giles' tiny backseat. "I just want to go to sleep."

Buffy made a sympathetic face, and Willow pulled out the puppy eyes. Xander just opened the door and got out.

Home sweet hellmouth.

*

This was kind of a big problem. Bigger, or at least more immediate, than his Xander-shaped problem and his shiny red ass. They were naked and stranded two miles from Sunnydale. Awesome.

They couldn't walk on the road, obviously, unless they wanted to risk the chance that the Sunnydale PD had actually gotten their heads out of their asses for once and slapped them all with a public indecency charge. This left them all picking through the scrub on the side of the road, scuffing their bare feet on brambles and trying not let naughty bits get scratched.

A car blew past. Kyle considered hitching a ride, but there again was the naked problem.

No one was talking. The girls were just holding hands and trudging on together. He hoped they would be okay, but then, it didn't seem that the whole thing was affecting them too terribly much. Tor was a different case. He hovered just to Kyle's left, never letting more than a few feet between them.

Clearly Tor was taking a bit to snap out of it. Kyle really wasn't sure if this was a good or a bad thing.

Another car passed. Heidi swore lightly under her breath. Kyle wanted to whine his reassurance at her, but sub-vocal noises were not something people did. And they were people. Nice, normal, human people with just a little tiny nudity problem.

Kyle was getting very tired of being naked. This was all Xander's fault. If Xander hadn't been so irritating the other day at the zoo, then Kyle wouldn't have had to pick on Lance, and none of this would have happened. In fact, Kyle wanted to find Xander right now and beat the shit out of him for screwing up his life!

A moment of rage passed, then Kyle deflated. Who was he trying to fool? He was done sublimating his lust for Xander in anger. It wasn't Xander's fault. It wasn't anyone's fault. This was Sunnydale, and sometimes things just happened.

He kicked a bramble away. Knowing that it wasn't anyone's fault didn't stop him from wanting to blame them, though.


	2. But I love you anyway

The Pack: Accidentally in Love

Chapter Two

No one was yelling in his house. That was new and different.

Xander crept in the front door, past the disintegrating paint and the broken porch rail. The living room was deserted, devoid of anything or one, except for a few empty beer bottles and a half-pack of cigarettes. He didn't let down his guard, but he did call out.

"Mom?"

There was no answer. He wasn't sure if he should be worried or relieved. Probably both, he figured. Xander snuck through the kitchen and looked around cautiously. He was still alone. He wasn't sure how to feel until he looked at the refrigerator and saw a certain yellow notice stuck there.

The court summons. Fuck.

Well, at least here was no way his parents would see him in nothing but Giles' jacket and his own hide. On the downside, though, he had a sneaking suspicion that whichever way the verdict went, his parentals were not going to be thrilled with him for missing it. The only question was how not thrilled they would be. He was betting on very.

Xander relaxed and slouched up the stairs to his room. He wanted to be wearing pants when he was punished. His room itself was scattershot with clothes, mostly socks, and the occasional candy wrapper. He knew that somewhere within the mess lay a semi-wearable pair of pants. He started digging and had just found a pair when he heard the phone ring downstairs.

Grabbing the only pants that had smelled remotely decent, he hastily pulled them on and dashed to the still ringing phone. He would have to remember to go back to the abandoned house and pick up what he'd left behind. He didn't have that many clothes. At least, not so many that he could afford to leave a whole set behind.

He picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Xander?"

It was Willow, checking up on him again. He supposed he should be flattered that she cared so much.

"Hey Wills."

"Hey." She sounded hesitant. "How are you holding up?"

Xander snorted. "I've only been home for five minutes, Will. That's not really enough time for a bombshell."

She coughed delicately. "No, I meant about all that stuff that happened yesterday and this morning. I thought maybe you wanted to talk, just us best buds, without Buffy and Giles being all eavesdropping."

"We wouldn't want them dropping eaves, now would we?"

"No, we wouldn't." She giggled. "So how is my Xander-shaped friend?"

"Topless."

"Oh!"

He laughed. "Yup, I'm all sweaty and half-naked standing in the kitchen, your own personal Chippendale dancer!"

"I bet Kyle wishes he were there," she giggled.

Xander had nothing to say to that. Willow sighed.

"Don't tell me you're getting all repressed and stupid," she said.

"I'm not getting stupid, I just not thinking about it," he replied. "It was a fluke, nothing more."

*

At this very moment, Kyle hated Xander. A lot. Xander had gotten a ride home, semi-clothed, and blanketed in concern. Meanwhile, Kyle had just been left naked on the floor, shivering and far from his nice warm bed. So, yeah, he hated Xander right now.

Tor's muttered hallelujah forced Kyle to look up—they were finally back to Sunnydale. That didn't mean they could go home just yet, though. They still had to stop back off at the house from last night and gather their clothes. The only one of them now capable of walking on the sidewalk was actually Tor, as he had been kidnapped while clothed. The bastard.

But then, Tor was walking with them and making sure no one spotted them, so he wasn't nearly as big a bastard as Xander. Stupid Xander.

The house was still blessedly empty, not that he had really expected otherwise, but it was still a comfort. That, however, was the only comfort. In daylight he could see more clearly precisely why this house had been condemned. The walls and ceiling were streaked with hundreds of fissures. He could tell that it would only take a few good knocks against the main beam to destroy the whole house. His every step brought little puffs of plaster raining down.

His clothes were bunched up in a pile by the bed. The bed where he had lost his virginity. His brain wouldn't work. For the moment he had no intention of letting himself think about that in any real detail. To think about it would be to admit it, and he was very much not ready for that. Not when he could blame it all on a freaky animal possession.

He hated to admit it, but he already missed the little voice in the back of his head. Kyle pulled his pants on slowly, forcing himself to look at the still stained bed. He could look at it and not freak out. He could think about the sex and not have analyze it or admit anything to himself or remember the feeling of Xander's skin on his.

Nope, never mind, he couldn't.

The others didn't look at all surprised when Kyle dashed back into the living room. Heidi and Rhonda gave him their best "aww, isn't he just adorable" looks, but he knew them well enough to see the concern lurking in their eyes. He smiled to reassure them. It didn't really seem to work.

Tor came up and put an arm around him. He savagely shrugged it off. He hated making them think that he was vulnerable, especially when he was. All he wanted at the moment was some peace and quiet to freak out a little. He just wanted to contemplate his lack of virginity by himself, thank you very much. It really didn't help that he knew they had heard him last night.

But he couldn't alienate them now that they had so much dirt on him. Well, and because he liked them. That just kind of came secondary at the moment. He was sure it would be back up to number one as soon as this Xander mess was over.

*

"It sounds to me like you're repressing," said Willow, in her most non-judgmental tone.

Xander refrained from whining, _"But I'm not!"_ back at her, as he was fairly sure that wouldn't help his case any.

"Repressing is bad, Xander. Very, very bad. It can lead to all sorts of very bad things, like Oedipus complexes and schizophrenia."

He smirked. "Willow, have you been reading Freud again?"

She sounded sheepish. He suddenly wished she were there, so that he could see her face and enjoy being around his Willow. "No?"

"I thought we talked about this," he said, doing a little dance inside for getting the upper hand for once.

"Well, it's just right there and it's so interesting and you know my mother's a shrink, I thought it would be something we could talk about, and…" She stopped abruptly, then continued suspiciously. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"Would I do a thing like that?"

No-nonsense Willow was back. "Yes." He heard her take a deep breath and prepared himself for a reaming. Instead she asked, quietly, "Was it really that awful?"

The question stopped him short. Was it? What had really been so terrible? He'd been running around thinking about how awful it was, but what if it wasn't? He supposed the loss of control had been bad, but it hadn't actually been all that unpleasant. It had even been nice to give up control for a while, to not have to worry about things like his parents or how he was going to pass sophomore year. And it wasn't like he'd even done something illegal, or even really bad. So what had been so horrible? The sex? Sure, he hadn't planned on losing his virginity to another boy in an abandoned house, but he was a sixteen year old boy. Sex was pretty much always good. So, really, it all boiled down to one thing.

"It made me feel things that weren't real."

She was silent at that. All he could hear from the phone was a faint hum and her soft breaths. Finally, she spoke. "How do you know they weren't real?" Her breath was coming quick now: he could tell she had something important to tell him.

"Out with it, Will," he sighed. "Wouldn't want you to explode."

The phone was quiet for a moment, not even breath coming through. "I'm not supposed to tell you."

"But we both know you're going to."

There was nothing to say to that, so she just came right out and said it.

"I don't know about you," she started, "but Kyle's feelings were all real."

He was so not expecting _that_ answer.


	3. There's a fine, fine line

The Pack: Accidentally in Love

Chapter Three

Yup, Tor was worried.

He wasn't slow. He knew that something majorly weird had just happened, and he also knew that it had centered on Kyle and Xander. That wasn't what worried him. This was Sunnydale. These things just happened. Kyle was the one really freaking him out. Kyle might be pretty good at hiding what was going on, but Tor was even better at seeking.

So, yeah, Tor was worried.

"Hey, uh, Kyle?"

Kyle turned around and regarded him. "Yes?"

"You…doing anything tonight?" Okay, so Tor might be perceptive, that didn't mean he was good at expressing things. _I'm here for you, man_ or _You know we can talk about it any time, right?—_These were the things he wanted say. Instead, he just said, "Wanna hang out?"

Eh, close enough. So he wasn't very eloquent, bug deal. Kyle knew what he meant. They were close like that.

"No."

Well la deed a, then. If Kyle didn't want his support, he didn't have to be rude about it. Manners, please! Tor proceeded to have an entirely internal hissy fit. Kyle didn't seem to notice or care. That just ticked Tor off. Even rudeness was better than being ignored. He was going to have to get drastic.

"So, how was Xander?"

Kyle choked and stopped walking briefly.

Tor continued. "His ass every bit as good as you dreamed?"

Because, yes, Tor knew about Kyle's little crush on Xander. He thought it was just adorable, though, momentarily, annoying as all fuck. Actually, he was pretty sure everyone knew, except maybe Harris himself. Heidi and Rhonda for sure. He did a mental salute to his two favorite lesbians and the awesomeness of them even considering letting him watch. He was even pretty sure that Xander's redhead knew. She was a sharp one. Hot too. And her plus Heidi and Rhonda? Wasn't that a pretty picture.

"I don't want to talk about it." Kyle's voice shook him from his very happy place. "I don't want to think about it. As far as I am concerned, none of this ever happened."

Harsh.

*

He hadn't meant to hang up on Willow, it had just happened.

Kyle loved him.

Okay, love might be too strong a word. Kyle really liked him. For real. Weird. He did have to admit that it explained a lot, though. Why Kyle had hated him, why he picked on him, why Kyle just cared so fucking much. It was all there, and Xander considered it perfectly understandable that he was having trouble adjusting.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd thought that someone other than Willow might love him. And now she was saying that Kyle loved him. The selfish little part of him that still remembered happy birthdays and toys on Christmas said to grab hold of Kyle and never let go. But even he knew that doing so wouldn't be fair to Kyle himself. Xander didn't love him back, and he couldn't do that to Kyle. He'd seen what it had done to his own parents.

Also, not gay.

Xander was dragged out of his reverie by the sound of the front door opening. Suddenly glad that he had managed to get at least kind of dressed, he waited in the kitchen to see the damage. He rather wished he might have thought to pick up the house a bit, and that he didn't still smell of the big gay sex.

His mother trudged into the kitchen and threw her purse down on the table. Her makeup was streaked; she'd been crying. This couldn't be good. Xander braced himself for the onslaught.

To his surprise, it was not forthcoming. Instead, his mother slumped into a chair and started sobbing. He didn't know what to do. His family had never been a particularly demonstrative one, and he could count on one hand the number of times he'd actually seen his mother cry sober.

He sat down at the table across from her, and reached around the bag to pat her hand awkwardly. Willow would be better at this. Hell, Giles would be better! But they weren't here, unfortunately, and he would just have to try his inadequate best. "Mom?" he started, "do you want me to get the tissues?" Okay, so that wasn't the smoothest phrase to begin with.

His mom just snuffled and did not respond. He continued patting her hand slowly and contemplated getting up and grabbing the tissues anyways. Before he could leave his seat, however, his mother spoke, her voice hoarse with tears and cigarettes.

"Your father is in jail," she said. He held his breath. "The jury was fixed against him, the bastards. He didn't even have a shot." Here she stood up and began fixing a drink for herself, the panacea of the Harris household.

Xander shuddered and bit the bullet. "How long did he get?" He wasn't sure what answer he even wanted to hear. Either one could be bad. Dad in jail meant dad wasn't home, but it also meant that he wasn't working, which was possibly worse. He stared at his mother's back and willed it to be some sort of good news.

"He got ten years," she said, without even turning.

Well, fuck.

*

Kyle punched Tor. He aimed for Tor's face and was surprised by how easy it was to hit it. How easy it was to punch his oldest friend. Briefly, he wondered if this was how Xander had felt when he punched Willow. It felt kind of good, cathartic, even, like he was getting twelve years of frustration out in one blow. It also felt like he'd broken Tor's nose. Oops?

"Son of a whore!" Tor yelled, clutching his nose and staring absently at the blood coating his hand. "Way to manage your anger, prick!"

Kyle really had no idea what he should be doing right now. Should he help Tor? What was the protocol for punching your best friend in the face? Contrary to general assumption, Kyle didn't really make a habit of punching people. He didn't have to beat people up. He reputation was good, or perhaps bad, enough, that he could bully on words alone. So, this? This was new. Also, his hand hurt.

As it turned out, though, he didn't need to help Tor up. The other boy had pulled himself up on his own, and was now glaring bloody murder at him. Kyle smiled back.

"You are one crazy SOB, you know that?" said Tor, the tide of blood from his nose ebbing slightly. Kyle smiled wider. He really did feel better now.

"Should we go to the ER?" he asked. "Make sure I didn't do any permanent damage? Cause we know you can't afford that!"

Tor laughed and slapped his back. "Alright, I get it," he said. "I'll stop bugging you about your gay love."

"Thank you," said Kyle, delicately picking through his pockets for a tissue or something to give Tor. There really was quite a lot of blood. He found one and handed it over.

"You know," said Tor, sopping at the blood with a napkin, "the girls will never let us live this down if they find out."

"Oh my god!" Kyle said in falsetto. "You guys hit each other? Why can't you just talk about your feelings like normal people?"

"Add in some indiscriminate screeching," Tor said, "and I think you've got it."

"So," said Kyle. "We cool?"

"Of course!" scoffed Tor. "We're guys. We do that."

"Good," said Kyle. "Because you're sort of right about that whole gay love thing."

*

"Ten years?" Xander repeated dumbly. "Isn't that sort of excessive?"

His mother snorted into her gin. "Of course it is, kid. Without you there, and where the fuck were you, by the way? But without you there, the jury didn't see that he's really a good family man, and they crucified him for it."

He gaped. "Are you saying this is all my fault?"

She thought about it for a moment, then smiled nastily at him. Her fingers caressed the glass. "Yes, I think it is."

He waited for her to continue. With an introduction like that, it couldn't be good.

It wasn't.

"Xander, I think it's time for you to part ways with this family."


	4. Between love and a waste of time

Chapter Four

"I'm sorry, what?"

His mother shrugged, the nasty smirk sliding off to be replaced with a grim practicality. She turned away from him again, he hoped because she regretted her hasty words and wanted to take them back. He would of course accept, they would embrace, and he would take the drink out of her hands. She would swear not to touch a drop ever again, her face miraculously restored to how she'd looked when he was little. They would be happy.

"I said I think it's time for you to move out, Xander. Your father doesn't want you here when he gets back."

"But that's ten years from now! I'm only fifteen!"

His cries had no effect on her. "I'm sure you'll survive somehow," she said, hardening herself to her only son's fate. She couldn't afford to care. With Tony in jail, Jessica Harris was going to have a hard enough time making ends meet for herself. She couldn't deal with a hungry, needy teenager on top of all that. He was going to have to learn to fend for himself.

Xander couldn't move. He was getting kicked out of his home, and it wasn't even his fucking fault for missing the trial! He got up and glared at his mother. She was drunk again. She was always drunk. He stalked over and grabbed the glass from her. She shrank before him. The glass slipped from his hand and shattered on the floor, gin and glass spattered across the linoleum.

He turned back around and stormed up the stairs. "I'll be out of your hair by dinner," he yelled back down behind him. He didn't turn, not seeing as his mother sank into a chair and began to sob.

*

He didn't want to go inside. They were going to kill him. Kyle could see his father's car still in the driveway and cursed the sky. Awesome. They'd probably been so worried that they'd called the police (as if that would help).

Sure enough, Kyle could see the outline of an officer in the big bay window. He couldn't leave, though, or else it would get even worse, and he really did hate making his parents worry. Plus, if he left, Tor would yell at him again. Tor really liked Kyle's parents, probably because he was so disappointed in his own.

Kyle couldn't really avoid this any longer. He took a deep breath and marched up the stairs. He was going to his doom. Before he could reach the door, though, it opened in front of him, and he was put face to face with one Lieutenant Joseph Briggs of the Sunnydale PD. Kyle did the only thing he could think of. He smiled.

"Hello, officer," he said, beaming at the man in question, and wiling him to notice how unharmed, un-high, and just generally un-gone he was. "Are my parents home?"

Joseph Briggs was very confused. He'd just finished being briefed by two distraught parents about their darling son who had probably been kidnapped and murdered on his way to a Bible study or something. It was the part of the job he hated the most, especially since Sunnydale had an abnormally high disappearance rate. But what was really unusual was the fact that the kid was here, on his own doorstep, in sunlight, looking to be nothing worse than tired. Briggs just shook his head at the kid, who kept on smiling.

"Seriously, kid," he said, "get your ass in there before they get any worse."

Kyle's smile faltered. "I know," he said. The officer gave him a faint smile and gestured at the door.

"All yours."

Kyle gulped an opened the door.

*

Xander closed the door behind himself. Well, actually, he slammed it. Hard. It didn't quite fill the pain of having his mother declare that he no longer belonged in his own family, but it did make him a little happy. Maybe the motion would cause a stress fracture in the beams and the house would fall down. So he was feeling a bit vindictive. Sue him.

Apparently he was moving now. Awesome.

Xander wished he could go back downstairs and grab some trash bags, but he wasn't going anywhere near that bitch he called mom. Instead, he shoved fistfuls of clothes into his pillowcase. He couldn't be able to take much with him, but there was no way he was being homeless _and _having dirty underwear.

The three pictures of Jesse were definitely coming, as was his absolute favorite Picard action figure, but other than that, all he really needed to grab was his clothes and the stash of money he kept taped to the back of the bed-frame. There was almost $200 there, not a fortune by any means, not even enough for a motel really, but it would keep him in PB and J's for a while as long as he could find someplace to stay.

Granted, he had no idea where that place to stay might be, but he would figure it out. He couldn't go to Willow, because as nice as she would be about it, he was sure that her parents would be less thrilled. Telling Buffy would just be awkward, and there was no way he was asking Giles. And that was it—the full extent of people who would care if he was eaten by a vamp at night on the streets of Sunnydale.

Kyle might care, he thought, tying together the ends of his pillowcase and pulling his Christmas sleeping bag from its hiding place. He could just imagine how that conversation would go. _Hi Kyle, sorry about this morning. I tend to freak out about gay sex. I've been kicked out of my house, mind if I crash here for a while? Your parents won't care, right?_

Great plan, Xander. Not even Kyle's theoretical love would extend that far. So, where to go? He might be depressed, but he didn't actually want to become vamp food, so that ruled out pretty much all of the warehouses in Sunnydale, and all of the alleys and street-corners. He could probably squat in one of the many abandoned houses for a while. Problem was, he didn't actually know which ones were abandoned.

Well, except for one. He could think of one particular house that would be empty, and was even kind of furnished. And that wouldn't be awkward, sleeping the in the bed he lost his anal virginity in…But his options were being vamp fodder or knocking on doors trying to find an empty house, so apparently the lovestain bed was gonna win.

He picked up his two pathetic bundles and his backpack and surveyed the room. He'd grown up here. That was his _Babylon 5_ poster. He'd had that bed since he was four. And now he was leaving. Trippy.

The door made a sad thumping noise when he closed it. He trudged down the stairs. He might want to avoid his mother, but there was no way he was crazy enough to climb out of his window. The last thing he needed was a broken arm on top of his homelessness. Things like that led to badness. Besides, he really wanted to rub her face in it. He'd been nothing but an obedient son, he was even being obedient about moving out promptly.

She was still sitting at the table when he got down, he head cradled by her pillowy arms. He cleared his throat, demanding her attention. She didn't budge. He did it louder, again, but she still ignored him.

"Mom!" He didn't really mean to yell, but he was under a lot of pressure, and if she wasn't even going to face what she'd said and done, then he was going to force her. No excuses accepted here. "I'm going."

She looked up, and he felt satisfied to note that she'd been crying more. Good. She still didn't say anything, but he was slightly mollified by how unhappy she looked. He wasn't sure if he ought to wait for her to speak, or if he should just leave.

He left.

*

"Mom? Dad?" Kyle braced himself walking through the front hall door. He was so going to get killed. And he wasn't just going to get_ bad night in Sunnydale_ killed, he was going to get _first night after the apocalypse killed_, which was not better. "I'm back."

His mother sprinted out of the living room and nearly barreled into him. She stared, then leaped onto her son and hugged him. Kyle hugged back. He might have been a pretty crappy son the past few days, but he really did love his mother. Naturally, she chose that moment of extreme tenderness to slap him. Hard. In the face.

His dad was standing there too now, his face frozen somewhere between amused and furious. "I see you made it," he said, raising and eyebrow.

Kyle, still held tight by his mother, flushed at the comment. He tried to pry his mother off. "I'm sorry," he said. He really didn't have anything else to say. It wasn't like he was going to just up and tell his parents he'd been too busy having gay sex to come home. That would go over well, uhuh. "Really, really sorry."

She pulled back and regarded him. "You'd better be," she said. "We thought you'd died."

"Extremely sorry?"

Kyle's dad sighed. "We are going to ground you, you know."

He sighed. He'd been expecting this. "For how long?"

Thomas Rosen grimaced. "Forever, for now," he said. "Maybe you'll be out by the time you graduate, but I wouldn't go making plans."

Kyle just nodded. That was fair.

His mother grabbed his arm again and asked, "Where were you, anyway?"

He didn't actually have an answer to that.


	5. I wanted to be with you alone

Chapter Five

It was a pretty long walk, now that he didn't have a hyena presence lurking in his head. Xander had already been walking for twenty minutes now, and he still hadn't spotted the Mulberry Street. He really hoped he wasn't actually lost, given that it was starting to get dark, and he needed to get inside soon or he was so totally fucked.

Oh good. Mulberry Street.

He turned down it, pillowcase and sleeping bag still held in a death grip. He was not letting go of the only possessions he had left. Yet another reason to go back to the house, he thought. He had clothes there.

And there it was, his new home. Even compared to his last home, this was a shithole. The shutters were smashed, the front door was missing a giant chunk, and the whole thing looked like it was going to fall down if he breathed on it too hard. On the other hand, though, it had a roof, and that was what mattered.

He held his breath as he climbed the stairs. How the hell was he going to keep everyone from noticing he lived here? He wasn't very worried about the cops finding him, but Willow was a very perceptive person when she wanted to be. He did not want her to figure it out, because then she'd get all pouty and ask him why he didn't come to her in the first place. And then she would make Giles adopt him or something. No thanks!

Well, the floor was still here, as was the couch, and the bed, he presumed. What were missing were the clothes. He distinctly recalled no being the only naked one there, which meant that the others had already been back to get their stuff. He didn't know whether to be disappointed or relieved. He settled on neither, just a general state of numbness completely justified by the day. He lay back on the still stained bed and thanked god that tomorrow was a Sunday.

*

Kyle felt like a princess in a tower. It was not a feeling he was enjoying much. Following a rather uncomfortable dinner and his utter avoidance of any mention of where he'd been, Kyle had effectively been sent to his room. He was sixteen, so it wasn't like they were going to actually send him up, but it was made abundantly clear that his parents, loving though they might be, were still very pissed.

So, here he was, sitting on the windowsill, brushing his hair and singing to the birds. Not literally, of course, but he was sitting on the windowsill. He might not have actually been a Disney princess, but he did feel bizarrely like he was waiting for his prince to come. Xander was probably doing his level best to forget Kyle had ever existed.

Xander was a good prince, though. He was all tall and handsome and strong. Kyle could definitely see him sitting on a white horse, covered in armor, but not too much armor, and holding a gleaming broadsword. Heh. Broadsword.

God he was gay.

He'd meant what he told Tor. He trusted the guy, for the most part, sort of, so he didn't feel awful about telling Tor stuff that he probably already knew. Though there was an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach telling him to roll back over and protect his vulnerable belly. He wasn't listening, because that was the hyena talking, and the hyena was gone.

Absently, he fingered the bite mark Xander had left on his shoulder. He was eternally grateful that the alpha had managed to bite somewhere not immediately visible, because he couldn't even imagine explaining that one to his mother. It was just a scary, scary thought.

Felt nice, though.

*

"Oh dear Lord," said Giles, polishing his glasses yet again.

"Giles?" called Willow. "You made the bad noise. Why did you make the bad noise?" She was seated at the library table, surrounded by dozens of volumes on demonic possession. He felt almost proud, but then he remembered what he had to tell her, and he just felt uncomfortable.

Instead of answering, he just shoved the book at her and pointed.

"Oh!"

"Yes," said Giles. "Oh, indeed."

Willow shuddered and turned the book face down on the table. "So, is that true?"

Giles sat down heavily and pushed the book away. "Yes, Willow, I'm afraid it is."

"How do you think they'll take it?"

"Well, I can't imagine they'll take it very well." He really couldn't. Xander might be one of his children (effectively, though, he had at times wished for a blood connection), but even Giles was able to say that the boy had troubles. Xander liked to think he hid it well, but Giles had always known that the boy's home situation was at best neglectful. He had never suspected the Harrises of abuse, though, so he had decided it would be more prudent to wait for a good reason to intervene. But due to his apparent upbringing, Xander had a bluster of homophobia about him. Giles couldn't blame the boy for it, but he could try to train it out of him.

Finding out that he was effectively married to one of the school's bullies was likely to set that process back a bit.

"No, Willow," he said, slowly replacing his glasses, "I think the boys might object."

Willow set her jaw. "Not if we don't let them!" she said.

Good girl.

*

Tor didn't really have a home to go to. Sure, there was a house, one that he lived in with his mother and sister, but that house was not a home. It hadn't been a home since his father had left. So he didn't go home, nor did he head to his house. Instead, he went to the playground.

He wasn't stupid, he knew it was dangerous to wander around Sunnydale at night, but, right this second, Tor didn't care. He felt like there was a hole in his chest where the pack ought to be.

The playground was completely deserted by the time he got there. Good. It would be kind of disturbing to see kids there at this hour, but he was rather surprised that there weren't even a few sketchy teenagers selling drugs or anything. That he found rather suspicious, actually, but he shrugged it off and sat on one of the swings.

He missed the feeling of flying. The swing pumped higher and higher, until Tor knew that he if he let go, he would fly. Granted, he would then go sailing into the dirt, probably sustaining a reasonable injury, but he would fly. He pumped the swing even higher. He was level with the bar now, staring straight up at the sky to see the stars. It was almost the same.

But it wasn't. Tor let the swing slow until he was still again. He got off.

He wasn't stupid. There was no going back tot eh way things were.

*

Buffy never really enjoyed patrolling. It was a great workout, and it gave her plenty of time to think while she maintained her girlish figure, but she didn't actually like it. That would be like enjoying homework!

She jabbed her stake a little deeper, and held her breath while the vamp exploded into dust. Score one for the powers of good. She was not above giving herself a mental high five. She was, however, way above telling anyone about it. Still, point to her, and now it was time for one last sweep of the graveyard before she went home and started her biology homework. Gag.

She was just rounding the last tombstones when she spotted movement over on the playground.

"Awesome," she muttered to herself. "Just what I wanted, another vampire. The perfect present for the girl who has everything."

The vampire didn't move. It looked like it was just hanging out. She couldn't see any victims lying around, but that didn't mean it was safe. She sneaked closer, staying to the back of the vamp. As she got closer, the figure became more familiar. Crap, she hated having to slay her classmates. She crouched down and made sure it had no idea she was there, and then she pounced.

A quick tumble of limbs and a few punches later, Buffy had a sneaking suspicion that this was not a vampire. Vampires usually didn't bitch slap. Or breathe.

"Get off of me, you psycho bitch!"

Oh, that was an angry voice she recognized. She gingerly pulled herself up off of the speaker's ribs. "Sorry, Tor."

Tor just lay on the ground and glared. She had to hand it to him, he had a pretty good glare. If she weren't the Vampire Slayer, she might actually be feeling a little intimidated right now. But she was, so she wasn't. Buffy stuck a hand out and hauled Tor up.

He just kept on glaring. "Suddenly," he said, "I don't feel even a twinge of guilt for mocking you at school."

Great. Try to do the world a favor, and watch your popularity flushed even further down the toilet. Buffy winced. "I said I was sorry," she said.

"What are you on, steroids?" he said, rubbing at his chest where she'd punched him. Just a little punch, really. Almost a love tap. He was just being a baby. "Seriously, though, what were you doing? Do you just skulk around at night, jumping people and beating them up?"

Well, yeah, sorta, but she wasn't about to tell him that. "In my defense," she said, "you looked pretty sketchy."

Tor just stared at her. "You beat me up for looking sketchy?"

"Um, yes?" It wasn't like she could say she beat him up because she thought he was a vampire. Then she'd be even less popular than the guy in her geometry class who ate his own snot. Gross.

She looked back over at Tor with big hazel eyes. Don't tell anyone, her eyes begged. Tor sighed. "You know what?" he said. "It's been a long day. I'm tired. I'm just going to go back to my house and try to forget that the past 48 hours even happened. Night, Summers. See you on Monday."

Well, it could have been worse.

*

That night, Kyle dreamed of flowing grass and wide blue skies.

Xander just dreamed of Kyle.


	6. And talk about the weather

Chapter Six

For the very first time in his life, Xander was actually looking forward to school. He'd had an entire weekend of just peanut butter and jelly: school lunch sounded awesome. And he would get to see Kyle. He wasn't totally out of his big gay freak-out, but he was enough through it to admit, even just to himself, that he really missed Kyle.

It was a good thing his dad was in hail, or Xander would be getting a serious bruising for being a fag. Not that his father hadn't suspected. He dropped his backpack on the bathroom floor. Bless the person who invented running water! If he could tell he smelled, that was just a bad sign.

He would have liked to get to school early and give himself a trip to the locker room showers, but it was surprisingly hard to wake up on time without an alarm clock. Weird that. Still, he'd have a chance to shower after gym. He would just have to forebear until then.

He smelled disgusting.

It was already third period, according to the clock in the hall, so Xander skipped the sponge bath and just splashed his face with water, washed his hands, and marched on toward class. Mr. Valecki was going to eat him alive, hopefully not literally, because that was always awkward. They went through a lot of teachers that way.

"Mr. Harris, so good of you to join us."

Did every teacher say the exact same thing to late students, or was that just him? Because, seriously, he had heard that exact phrase, said in that exact tone, way too many times. What he wouldn't give for a nice _Get in here you lazy bastard!_ Or perhaps just a pleasantly straightforward _Detention!_ That'd be good.

Xander meandered back towards his seat, ignoring Willow's giant eyes staring at him from across the aisle. She was probably going crazy with his apparent silence. Really, though, he would have called her, but the house on Mulberry Street didn't have a phone. It didn't have a toilet either. So, he knew he should have called, especially after hanging up on her unexpectedly, but he couldn't feel too terribly about it. He was kind of surprised she wasn't pissed, actually, but then, this was Willow. She was never _pissed_.

"So, what can people tell me about the hunting habits of hyenas?"

Mr. Valecki was the third biology teacher they'd had this year, and while he was definitely better than Miss French, he was still kind of a schmuck. A schmuck obsessed with mammals, to be exact, even if that was a welcome change after all of the insect talk. Mammals were good. For once he actually knew the answer to this question, but it wasn't like he could say so and keep his slacker cred. Thank god for smart kids.

"They travel in packs," said a student to his left. "Like wolves."

"Very good, Miss Anders. Wolves and hyenas do share a similar pack structure. Can anyone tell me the main difference between the two species?"

Xander prayed like he hadn't prayed since the last apocalypse that no one would know the answer. It was really embarrassing. He even wished he didn't know it, especially form first hand knowledge. He would gladly trade the A that he was going to get on the quiz for a nice case of amnesia. He didn't think that was going to happen anytime soon, though. What he wouldn't give for senility.

He saw Willow shoot him one last concerned glance before she tentatively raised her hand. Crap. Curse Willow's insatiable need to do well in school.

"Hyenas are matriarchal," she said.

He had been possessed by a girl hyena. He really didn't like knowing that, and the thought was making his ass hurt again. Oh, he and Kyle might have done some experimenting with their nifty human bodies, but he was definitely possessed by the alpha female hyena, and that was not a fact that he was entirely comfortable with yet. It wasn't a fact he thought he had much of a chance of every being comfortable with.

Willow was still talking.

"This is, of course, in contrast with wolves," she was saying. "Wolves are relatively egalitarian, sharing both the leadership of the pack and the cub-raising duties." She seemed to be finished now, judging by the eminently satisfied way she sat back in her chair. Mr. Valecki just looked amused.

"I assume you mean egalitarian with regards to gender," he said, holding in a kind of insulting smile. "Because wolves are anything but egalitarian in social structure."

Willow blushed, and Xander hated Mr. Valecki for that. Nobody got to make fun of his Willow! That was how they'd met, after all, the yellow crayon incident. He'd kept her from crying, then, and he would keep her from crying now. He raised his hand.

Mr. Valecki's eyebrows looked like they were in danger of being eaten by his comb-over. "Yes, Mr. Harris? You have something to add to the discussion?"

Dick. "Wouldn't another major difference between them be that hyenas are not a structured pack, while wolves are? Other than the fact that they both roam and hunt in packs, they aren't very similar at all."

Take that, Mr. meanie science man.

Mr. Valecki looked kind of baffled that his worst student had actually been able to contribute, let alone have something meaningful to say. Xander really hoped it confused the hell out him. They guy was a jerk who really liked making his students look stupid. He decided to pull out a can of coup de grace kickass on the dude.

"Furthermore," that's right, he could use the big words too, bitch! "Furthermore, there are a lot of animals that travel in packs. Velociraptors traveled in packs! Are you suggesting that like animals always engage in the same behavior? That they all look the same to you?"

Mr, Valecki, Willow, everyone in the room, actually, stared at Xander. He just sat there and smirked.

Win.

*

Kyle first saw Xander in the hallway after third period. He looked like hell. He looked like a very attractive hell that Kyle wouldn't mind going to, but he still looked like hell.

They didn't look at each other, of course. People would get suspicious if infamous enemies Kyle and Xander made eye contact or anything. Heaven forfend! Kyle briefly considered telling Xander that they had to talk and then pulling him into the janitor's closet or something. Somehow, though, Kyle got the feeling that doing so would do a bit more than just raise some eyebrows. Plus, he didn't think he would be able to resist Xander's animal magnetism if he got him alone.

Animal magnetism. That was one hell of a Freudian slip.

Physically, Kyle was sitting in his English class. Mentally, he was in gym class with Xander. There were benefits to knowing the guy's schedule inside out. Right now, he would be peeling off his clothes, stripping down to the tantalizing flesh. Of course, logically, he would now be getting dressed again, this time in gym clothes, which were quite possibly the least sexy thing ever.

But under his clothes, Xander was naked. Ooh. Naked. Kyle spent the rest of fourth period in a roiling fantasy of sudsy, naked Xanders washing each other, all thoughts of Beowulf chased from his head.

*

Xander spent all of fourth period with the unnerving feeling that he was being watched. No, more than watched, he was being ogled. He looked sharply over at where Coach March was organizing a basketball game, but the coach wasn't looking, so what was up?

The feeling only got stronger when he got into the shower. Someone was lusting after him, and it was killing his joy at being clean for the first time in four days. He felt kind of weirded out. The worst part, too, was that he couldn't see anyone actually perving on him. By the laws of the locker room, no dude was going to look at another dude's junk. So, even if Larry was kind of freaking him out, Xander had to conclude that no one here was the culprit.

Which left exactly one option.

*

Kyle could practically see the soapsuds glistening on Xander's skin. Ten minutes before the end of class, the fantasy had gotten even more real. He felt like he was there, actually in the shower with Xander. He could feel the pounding water, the slickness of the soap, the cold tile floor.

It was so real.

*

Xander stormed out of the shower and threw his clothes back on. Kyle was watching him. He didn't know how, but he had a hunch, and he was pretty sure he didn't like it. He was pretty sure he was developing a distinct dislike for magic at all.

It was the work of a moment to gather all of his things and rush headlong out into the hallway. If he recalled correctly, Kyle's class was over by the office, so he would have to be careful to avoid Principal Flutie. That guy just freaked him out. A live pig as a mascot? Come on, dude.

The tide of students miraculously parted for him, and he spotted Kyle drifting along, his head clearly in the clouds. Xander growled without even realizing it. He should be the one that put that look on Kyle's face! Not some fantasy!

Unknowingly mimicking Kyle's earlier idea, Xander grabbed the other boy and hustled him into a closet.

"We need to talk."


	7. He's everything you want

Chapter Seven

Oh goddess. Willow couldn't find Xander. That couldn't be a good thing.

Granted, she'd been impressed and proud when he had shown up Mr. Valecki, especially since he had to know the material better than anyone, but he didn't show up to their fifth class, and he had had been very late that morning. She couldn't let her best friend fail all his classes. It really didn't help that she also had some super important stuff to tell him.

For a minute, Willow imagined that they were all in Vegas, and she was breaking the news of a beer soaked marriage to Xander. It would be so much easier. What was she supposed to say here? _Hi, Xander, did you realize that you accidentally married Kyle, and it can't be annulled or divorced or anything? You can't even die out of it._

She didn't really think he'd be okay with that. To be fair, though, it was kind of sweet. It was a _real_ marriage, not one of those half-hearted ones like people had these days. This was a marriage that would only take if the two people in it really loved each other. Which they did.

So, yeah, Willow kind of needed to talk to Xander.

*

Xander really needed to talk to Kyle, but it wasn't working. He hadn't really considered much beyond the idea that Kyle was somehow psychically spying on him, but he should have. Kyle hadn't just been spying on him, he'd been spying on him in the shower. Kyle was horny.

And enthusiastic. He had Xander shoved up against the cleaning supplies and seemed to be trying to give his tongue a hickey. Not that Xander really minded much right now. Right now, he was pretty focused on the endorphins flooding through his system, and the possible logistics of getting Kyle's pants off in such a tight space. Forgive him if all of that was kind of distracting.

Kyle pulled back and started attacking his neck, which uncomfortably reminded him of the hyena, the claim bite, and Kyle's psychic escapades. Damn. He really hated when reality intruded like that. He'd really prefer just staying here, enjoying the feel of Kyle's warm body pressed against him and the positively indecent things he was doing with his tongue.

"Okay," wheezed Xander as he bodily pushed Kyle off. Kyle whimpered at the loss of Xander's neck, and gave the other boy his sultriest look. Xander remained unmoved, though he did relegate that look to his spank bank for future reference. It was too good to waste. He cleared his throat and tried again. "We need to talk, Kyle."

Kyle pressed back forward and bit Xander's ear. "I thought we were talking," he said.

"Umm, no," said Xander, again dodging Kyle's magnificent tongue of doom. "That was not talking. Talking involves a lot less tongue."

He stopped for a moment. That couldn't be right. Kyle took advantage of Xander's pause to put his hands somewhere decidedly unexpected.

Xander's voice jumped several octaves. "What I mean is," he yelped, "we need to talk about everything that's happened."

"Why?" smirked Kyle, his hands moving even lower. "Why not just enjoy the ride?"

"As nice as that would be," Xander shuddered, "I think we need to discuss a certain incident this morning where you were spying on me in the shower."

"Was I?" said Kyle, palming Xander's ass and squeezing. "I don't remember that."

"Of course you do!" Xander muttered distractedly as he watched Kyle lower himself onto his knees. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?"

Well, it looked like a blowjob, but…oh goddess that was a magnificent tongue. He could write odes to that tongue and everything it was doing right now.

Xander didn't manage to raise another objection for the next hour.

*

Willow burst into the library after school. She had to tell Giles that Xander had missed five of his classes and that he might be in danger again, because he was all missing and stuff. She hoped he wasn't freaking out about he whole gay thing, but she was willing to bet that he was. Well, she would not stand for that! He was her friend and none of her friends were allowed to be prejudiced, nuh-uh.

Giles, though, was apparently nowhere to be seen.

"Giles? Giles?" Willow called out into the stacks. She was very proud of herself for managing to ignore all of the _Be Quiet _signs. "Giles?"

He emerged from the shelves, holding a stack of books and glaring. "Willow! Do try to be quiet! I know you children choose to ignore the fact, but this is a library."

So much for boldness. "Giles, Xander missed almost all of his classes today."

He appeared to be less than impressed. "I'm sure that the boy is just dealing with the realizations of the weekend. I think we can allow him some time to adjust."

"I guess," she said, turning her attention to Giles' books, which were now spread over the library table." More research on Xander and Kyle?

"No," said Giles, pulling one of the books over and skimming it while he spoke. "It would seem we have larger problems."

She really didn't like the sound of that. "Oh?"

"Buffy spotted an unknown demon on her patrol last night. I've been trying to find it in these books, and I think I may have found it."

He pushed an open book towards her, and Willow wondered if this was going to be one of those awkward revelations again, like last time. She picked up the book and looked. Well, at least this one didn't involve a marriage, because that thing was freaking ugly. "A Mavtun demon?" she asked. "I've never heard of those."

"I have," said Giles, pacing next to the table. "They balance demons."

"What, like Whistler?"

"No," he said, stopping to pick up another book. "Mavtun demons are a great deal less friendly than our friend Mr. Whistler. The Mavtun come to balance out strong magic by eating the focus of the magic and blocking it out.

That didn't sound too bad. "So all we have to do is keep the focus sage and slay the demon?"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple, Willow." Giles sighed. "The Mavtun demons may be barbaric, but they serve a very important function. Without their help, magic from these strong spells would leak out everywhere."

"So we let the demon do its job?" Willow could not, for the life of her, see what Giles was getting at.

"Willow," Giles said slowly, "what was the last big spell in Sunnydale?"

That was easy. "The hyenas." Oh.

"And the focus of that spell?"

"Kyle and Xander," she whispered.

Well crap.

*

"Now can we talk?"

Kyle's face was hovering over a bucket of some kind of chemicals, and he would be worried about the fumes, but he felt way too good to move. Silly Xander for thinking he could have a conversation right now. Kyle's hand snuck back down Xander's chest. Talking bad. Sex good.

Xander whacked his hand away. "Really, Kyle. We need to talk. With words."

He sighed and forced himself to sit up. "You know," he said, "you really need to work on this whole enjoying the afterglow thing. Because you suck at it."

The other boy laughed. "Yes, yes I know. I suck. But we need to talk about this stuff. We can't just keep falling into bed like this."

"Do you see a bed here?"

"Not the point, Kyle." Here Xander sighed. "Look, I know you were watching me this morning. I could feel it."

"Okay, to my knowledge," Kyle replied, "I was not spying on you. I will admit to several very interesting fantasies involving you and a shower, but I did not leave my seat."

Xander looked at him steadily.

"So, you mean to say," continued Kyle, "that when I was daydreaming in English class, I was actually spying on you with my mind?"

"Yes."

Suddenly, Kyle wasn't really feeling the afterglow either.


	8. He's everything you need

Chapter Eight

Kyle was never going to leave his room again, not if he couldn't trust himself not to jump Xander if he saw him. And he wasn't thinking about Xander either. He had no idea what Xander was doing at that moment, and he was not going to wonder, because he believed in privacy.

Xander was walking down Main Street.

Crap!

He really needed to get a handle on this psychic connection crap, especially if he ever wanted to masturbate again. He did _not_ want Xander wandering in on his fantasies. Because some of those daydreams could get pretty kinky, and Xander was having enough trouble with the idea of normal sex.

Really awesome normal sex.

Xander's little bombshell had pretty much killed the mood, which was probably okay, in the long run. It wasn't his fault that he was a teenager, with a teenaged sex drive and the resulting horniness, but he should not be jumping Xander during school. Especially not when he had a test in sixth period and they were in the janitor's closet. Bad plan.

Plus, he was still grounded, so even if he did want to go find Xander, he wouldn't. Because he loved his parents and didn't want to upset them. They were even more upset about the whole skipping three classes thing, without him mentioning the part with the other boy in the closet and the making out. He really needed to stop lying to his parents, just not right now.

So here he was again, the damsel in the tower, just looking down on the street below, where a young blonde girl was pacing up and down the sidewalk.

Buffy?

*

Tor scurried along in the shadows. For a guy apparently meandering around town, Harris moved really freaking fast! They crossed over from Main to Elm Street, Tor taking care to keep out of sight. He had no idea where they were going.

He had no idea what he was doing here. Tor did not like to think of himself as a stalker, but the shoe fit like a glove. That might be a very mixed metaphor, but it was true. However he might want to package it, Tor was stalking Xander.

It wasn't his fault, though. This could all be blamed on that psycho Buffy chick and Willow Rosenberg's big brown eyes. He hated womanly wiles. He'd just been minding his own business after school when they'd ambushed him, handed him a crossbow, and insisted that he follow Xander until he got home.

"Umm, not to be whiny," he'd said, "but why?"

Willow had scrunched her face up in a way so very adorable it had to be contrived. "We're worried about him?"

He'd passed the crossbow back, or at least tried to. Buffy wouldn't take it. "I'm not helping you spy on him."

She'd sighed and skooched in a little closer then. "Look," she said, "we _are_ worried about Xander. We have it under good authority that he's in danger."

Buffy just had to butt in there. "There's a demon trying to eat him."

Okay. He did have to hand it to her, Buffy could be refreshingly honest sometimes. "A demon," he'd repeated. "A demon is trying to eat Xander Harris."

Buffy had just nodded. "It happens more than you'd think."

Tor had just sighed, grabbed the crossbow, and left. He wasn't sure if he actually believed them. They seemed sincere enough. He couldn't help pointing out, though, even if only to himself, that they had sent him to protect Xander. So who was going to protect Tor?

No one, apparently.

They turned off of Elm and onto Mulberry Street, and suddenly Tor knew where they were going. He just didn't know why.

*

Why the hell was Buffy Summers staking out his house? Could he say weird? Was she taking a new and pro-active role in protecting her friend's heterosexuality? If so, then it was pretty overkill-ish. Then again, it was Buffy. The overkill was implied.

Kyle estimated that his parents had probably gone to bed by now. This was not to say that he thought he would get away with sneaking out. But he had to know what the hell Buffy was doing outside his house. He pulled open his window and leaned out.

"Buffy!" he hissed. "Summers!"

She whipped around, and Kyle could see for the first time the short sword she was holding. Psycho, much? "Kyle?" Wow, okay, he hadn't been talking all that loud. She must have really impressive hearing. Just another thing to chalk up to the weirdness of Buffy Summers.

Buffy looked up at his window and brandished her sword at him. "You should get back inside," she said.

She couldn't be serious, could she?

"What the hell are you doing here?" Because Kyle was pretty sure her mysterious appearance was much weirder than his leaning out of his window at eleven at night. Just a little. It was _his_ window after all.

"Umm," she seemed stumped. "Taking a walk?"

Did she actually expect him to believe that?

"Did you actually expect me to believe that?"

She shook her head, because, no, she didn't really think he would fall for that excuse. It was the sword that gave it away. "Look," she said, lowering the sword and glaring up at Kyle's window, "let's just say that I need to be here, for your protection, and that you should just ignore me and go to bed."

Right, like that made _more_ sense.

*

Xander curled up in the filthy sheets of his new bed, covering himself with the sleeping bag and pretending he couldn't smell rat droppings and semen. It wasn't working very well.

He wondered vaguely if Tor had decided to camp out on the couch after all, or if he was still skulking around in the bushes. Xander wasn't oblivious and Tor wasn't stealthy. It had only taken him two blocks to realize he was being followed, and another three to figure out who was doing the stalking.

Guh. And now he wouldn't be able to sleep until he knew if Tor was safe in the house or not. Son of a bitch. He didn't so much mind Tor knowing where he was staying, but there was no way in hell he was letting him become vamp chow right on the doorstep. Xander threw off the sleeping bag and got up to check.

Indeed, Tor was still in the bushes, probably convinced that he was still undetected. Moron.

Xander shuffled out to the front door and called to Tor. "Are you going to stay out there all night?"

Apparently, Tor was a mite tense, as when he turned around, he loosed a shaft from the crossbow, and nocked a new hole in Xander's wall. Xander just sighed. Who gave the jumpy one a weapon?

"Xander!" said Tor, voice high and panicky. "I didn't see you there."

He regarded the arrow sticking out of his wall. "So I see."

"How're you doing?" Dependable Tor, going for nonchalance. It wasn't a very convincing look for him.

"Why are you sitting in the bushes, Tor?"

"Uh," Tor didn't really have a good answer to that. "Buffy told me to?"

He sighed. "Of course she did. Look, if you're going to keep stalking me, you can at least be in the house." He was careful not to actually word it as an invitation. Couldn't be too careful.

Tor seemed to find that to be a reasonable compromise. He pulled himself out of the hedge and followed Xander back inside.

"What are you doing here, anyway, man?"

Xander snorted. "What am _I_ doing here? What are _you_ doing here?"

"I told you," Tor said, falling back onto the couch. "Buffy sent me."

"Yes, I remember. But why did she send you?" Xander congratulated himself on a successful redirection. He didn't mind Tor knowing where he lived, but he didn't particularly want to give away the why.

The other boy wriggled uncomfortably. "It sounds nuts," he said.

Xander was fed up with the excuses. "Just tell me!" he barked. Tor sat up a little straighter and tilted his neck towards Xander. Fuck. Xander gentled his tone. "Tor," he urged. "It's not crazy, just tell me why she sent you."

Tor whimpered a little, but finally answered the question. "She says there's a demon coming to kill you."

That'd do it.


	9. Because nobody knows

Chapter 9

"There's a demon coming to kill me?" asked Xander, rubbing at his eyes. He was way too tired to deal with this, but there was nothing for it now. "Any particular reason, or just because it's Tuesday?"

"They weren't all that clear on the why or the how," replied Tor. "I probably should have asked."

"Don't worry about it," said Xander. He wasn't entirely sure if there really was a demon or if the girls hadn't just wanted to make sure he didn't disappear again. Why else would they send a jumpy guy with a crossbow, and not a Buffy with a sword. So, yeah, probably lying. Now he just had to make sure Tor didn't tell them anything.

He should probably also take the alpha whammy off of Tor, but not until he made the guy promise.

"Tor?" he said. "Are you going to tell Buffy and Willow about where I life?" He let power lightly lace through his voice, so much that when Tor answered, his face was slack and his voice flat.

"No," he said. "I won't tell them what you don't want them to know."

Weird answer, but okay. Perhaps he ought to mention the lingering effects of the spell to Giles. Then again, Giles might think he was still possessed and he did not enjoy those naked weird rituals. He was totally through with waking up naked on a cold cement floor. Unless there was sex first. That would be okay.

"Thanks, Tor," he said. "Why don't you crash on the couch tonight?" He tried to lift the whammy as much as he could to let Tor rest. He could probably whammy Tor to sleep, actually, but that seemed like an abuse of power.

Apparently Tor was truly tired, though, because he fell asleep almost immediately. Good. Xander didn't exactly have a blanket to throw over the other boy, so he spread a coat over him and hoped that would be enough.

And there was his own bed. Filthy, gross, and so very depressing. Xander climbed in gingerly, trying not to wake the bedbugs or rats or whatever. He missed his home. He really hated thinking that, but he couldn't help it. He was fifteen. If all he wanted was to curl up next to his mother until the world went away, then that was okay. That was forgivable.

Admitting it didn't make his heart hurt any less, though.

*

As far as Kyle could tell, Buffy had stayed outside his house all night. When he got down for breakfast, she was sitting at their kitchen table, chatting with his mother, and just generally confirming his worst nightmares.

"Morning Mom," he said. He then nodded to the interloper. "Hey Buffy, what're you doing here?"

Buffy giggled. "Did you forget?" she simpered. "We're walking to school together, Kyle."

His mom looked way too happy about this. Kyle had no intention of interrupting her as she planned his and Buffy's wedding, so he let the lie alone and sat down beside the vicious harpy at the table.

"Oh right," he said, continuing the deception, and damn was Buffy good at this. "Forgive me?" He batted his eyelashes at her. She snorted.

"Ham," she coughed.

He laughed, then applauded as his mother brought over two servings of waffles and eggs. His mom was awesome. Buffy appeared to agree, because she dove right into the food and wow that girl could eat. Kinda scary, really.

Too much breakfast later, they were officially running late for school. His mom hustled them out the door, shoving backpacks and bag lunches at them both. They staggered off the porch in a daze.

"Wow," said Buffy. "Your mom is intense."

"You have no idea," he sighed. "She's probably naming out children right now. Good job, but the way."

"Thanks! And from your comment, I take it that you haven't told your parents about the whole gay thing yet."

"That would be a big no." Kyle shifted his backpack and they turned on to Second Street." Ever. A big never.

"Bummer." She sounded truly sympathetic there, and he was pleasantly surprised.

"Yeah." He let the topic drop. There was a more important issue here. "Why are you walking me to school anyway?"

She laughed. "Can you imagine what Xander would do to me if I let his boyfriend get eaten?"

Umm, no, he couldn't. "Boyfriend?"

"Uh, yeah, Kyle. Boyfriend. Or do you make out with everyone in the Janitor's closet?"

Point to the blonde. "You know about that?"

"Everyone knows about it. Except Willow, which is good because she might get all defensive and uncomfortable."

"And you're cool with it?" Because he seemed to recall copious amounts of glaring and protesting and general bitchiness. Why the sudden reversal?

"I'm from LA, Kyle. Gay is nothing new. Possessed by hyenas and gay? Now _that_ is new."

Fair. He could allow that. "Hence the freaking?" he asked, because, logical or not, he needed to be reassured that he wasn't about to get gay bashed.

"Hey," she said, "I just happen to not like it when demons try to screw up my friends. I think that's reasonable."

So did Kyle.

*

Tor had never slept as well as he did on the ratty old couch in the House on Mulberry Street. He didn't really want to examine that too closely. Xander wasn't up yet, but he could tell that school had already started. Apparently Xander didn't believe in alarm clocks. Then again, where would he plug one in? Shit, this place was a dump.

Heh. Shit, dump. Okay, he really needed to get up, get Xander up, and get them to school, hopefully without getting eaten by a monster. He fell off of the couch and stumbled into the kitchen. Food? Anywhere? Tor was a big proponent of breakfast, but all he could find in the kitchen was half a loaf of Wonderbread and some peanut butter. That was just sad.

This whole thing was sad, for that matter. What the hell was Xander doing living in an abandoned house and eating peanut butter sandwiches. He walked into the bedroom, and that was even worse. Xander was sprawled in the middle of a broken down mattress, with a few changes of clothes scattered on the floor. It was pathetic and depressing. How long had he been living here?

As if feeling Tor's scrutiny, Xander stirred and rolled over, his eyes catching on the other boy in the doorway. "You're still here?" he mumbled as he sat up.

And, ouch, that hurt. Still, Xander could be mostly forgiven on the grounds of still-sleepy grouchiness. "Good morning to you too, sunshine." Xander groaned. "Isn't anyone going to notice if you're late?"

Xander shrugged and got out of the bed. "Not really," he said. "I'm failing all my classes anyway, so it's no big if I fail a little faster." Yup. Definitely depressing. Tor'd never been so happy to be himself in his life. At least someone cared, even if it was half-hearted and tired. He had a sudden urge to go home and hug his mother. Seriously.

Tor wasn't about to touch the topic of Xander's very shitty life, not even with a ten-foot Teflon pole. Instead, he focused on the here and now. "We should probably get ready for school. Where's the bathroom?"

"Over by the stairs, I think." Xander shrugged. "There's no water, though, so it's not like it works."

No running water, peanut butter sandwiches, Tor couldn't take it anymore. "Dude, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Got kicked out," was Xander's succinct answer.

Tor supposed that would explain it, but that didn't make anything better. "That's just messed up," he offered.

"I know," Xander sighed.

He wanted to say something comforting or relevant, but he had absolutely no idea what that would be. He saved from an answering by a rustling outside. "What was that?"

"Hmm?" Xander wasn't paying attention. Dammit, this was the kind of thing people should pay attention to!

"That!" yelled Tor. "That creepy, shifty whooshing sound. Can't you hear that?"

Xander tensed. "Yes," he said. "I can."

He stood, finished pulling his shirt on and grabbed a knife from Tor didn't know where. "When I tell you," Xander said, "run."

"What?"

"Just do it!" Xander yelled as the thing making the noise burst into the room.

Tor didn't run.


End file.
